The Avengers Credits Easter Egg Explained (Spoilers)

Update! The who, what and where of the secret after credits scene, and how it could fit into Avengers 2. Plus, the full story on the newly added last scene!

By Scott Collura

MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW FOR THE AVENGERS. DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM YET!

The tried and true Marvel Studios tradition of inserting scenes with Easter eggs midway or after the credits of its films continues with The Avengers. And while the surprise reveal that comes midway during the film's closing credits -- right after the fancy actor roll call -- might make total sense to comics fans, there are surely a lot of you out there saying, "Just what the heck was that all about?"

Well, we've got you covered.

But one more time, remember that spoilers follow!

O.K., then. Let's do this.

Ready?

You want to know who the purple-faced freakazoid is at the end of the film? It's Thanos, of course. The Mad Titan!

Thanos, the Mad Titan

Thanos shows up ever so briefly when "The Other" -- Loki's point man with the Chitauri -- breaks the news to his boss that the Avengers just kicked the butts of the God of Mischief and his alien army. Their invasion of Earth has failed. Standing with his back to the camera amid the cosmic otherness that seems to be becoming de rigueur for Marvel, Thanos turns to reveal his distinctive mug and only-a-mother-can-love chin ridges to the camera. And then… cut to the rest of the credits! So it was Thanos who actually ordered the attack on Earth…

Of course, this all makes sense. We'd been hearing for ages that a second villain might be showing up in The Avengers. Red Skull was frequently mentioned, but of course Thanos' infamous weapon the Infinity Gauntlet did show up in a blink-or-you-miss-it moment in the Thor movie last summer in Odin's weapons room. (The Infinity Gauntlet also made an appearance at Comic-Con a year before that!)

But who is Thanos?

Created by that cosmic-tale stalwart Jim Starlin, Thanos first showed up in Iron Man #55 in 1973 and has been more or less a mainstay of Marvel Comics' outer-space stories since. He's one of the Eternals, an "evolutionary offshoot" of the human race who have superpowers and get to do cool stuff like hang on Saturn's moon Titan and live for a really long time. This is not unlike another super-race in Marvel lore, the Inhumans, who Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has said could be getting a movie soon too.

In the comics, Thanos is not an Inhuman. But the Marvel movies have tinkered with their source material before to make it fit onscreen, so who knows? Maybe the Inhumans and the Eternals will be combined to some degree. Either way, it seems likely that Thanos will play some kind of role in that movie, if and when it happens. But even more likely is the character's connection to The Avengers 2. He will be back in the sequel, it seems, and he'll be ready for Earth's Mightiest Heroes this time!

Bookmark this page and check back soon as we'll be breaking out a full "Thanos: Everything You Need to Know" feature, but in the meantime... fear the Mad Titan!

And then there's the second Easter egg scene -- it's the absolute last scene of The Avengers and quite an added treat. Sure to disappoint some viewers, confuse others, and delight even more, the 30-second or so bit comes after the last credit has rolled. It's a wordless gag as the Avengers all sit around a shawarma shop, exhausted and munching away on pita sandwiches after the film's climactic battle has ended.

This is of course a reference to a line Tony Stark has during the final moments of the fight, after the Hulk has caught him during his plummet from the sky. He suggests going for shawarma around the corner, doing that Stark quip thing that he does so well. It plays as a throwaway line, but when the image of the entire group appears after the credits, it's a great moment -- and a very Whedonesque one at that. The shot feels like something you'd see in a Buffy episode, in fact, and while it's humorous, it also fits the film's themes -- and the entire Marvel movie oeuvre to date -- very well. Of course you'd want to go chow down with your buds after a hard day's work like that, and who needs to chit-chat after everything you'd just been through? That's the sign of a real family actually -- there's no need to make small talk.

You could also read into the bit as a commentary on the whole Easter egg phenomenon as well. After hooking us in time and again with Nick Fury cameos and mysterious hammers in the desert, it's almost like Marvel Studios itself is saying, "O.K., whew. Finally, we did it. Now let's eat." Love it.